School district spends $100k on student vans it ‘can’t use’

YULEE, Fla. – A Florida school district is hoping to recoup money spent on five large passenger buses it bought for after school activities after state officials pointed out they don’t meet safety laws.

“It should have been caught by me but it wasn’t,” Nassau County School District transportation director David Buchanan told First Coast News.

“As soon as they brought it to our attention we took them out of service for our students’ safety,” Superintendent John Ruis said.

District officials purchased the 12-seat passenger vans for $26,000 each to usher students to after-school activities, but the Florida Department of Education sent officials a letter Oct. 27 pointing out that they’re illegal.

In bold, underlined text, state officials wrote that the buses purchased by the district are prohibited from transporting “more than ten persons, including the driver … There are no exceptions,” Action News Jax reports.

“On Tuesday, an Action News Jax viewer sent us a picture he said was taken Sunday, showing the four vans parked in front of the transportation office for the district. But after our requests for information from the district Wednesday, we showed up and the buses were no longer parked in the front. They were moved all the way to the back,” according to the news site.

“We, I, was under the impression, mistakenly evidently, that the threshold was 15 passengers,” Buchanan said in an email to Action News Jax.

“Buchanan is also the mayor of Hilliard and didn’t return our calls or answer…

Featured News

Total Shares 0 Jake AndersonOctober 22, 2015 (ANTIMEDIA) Washington, D.C. — The circus is back in town in Washington D.C. (actually, it’s part of a permanent residency), as a congressional panel spent Thursday peppering presidential candidate Hillary Clinton with questions about her role in the Benghazi consulate attack. The attack left four

A dynamic blend of aggregate and original daily news reporting, bringing the latest breaking alternative news to help inform, prepare, and arm you with the most-powerful of modern weapons; information.